Eless Rising
by spaceraider2070
Summary: The Tetrarchan Void Marines are an elite regiment of the Imperial Guard, hailing from the desert continent of Eless, at the heart of their homeworld. When Prince-Leftenant Sinhbad returns home from a combat deployment, thoroughly changed by his experiences, he finds all is not as it seems on Tetrarchus. Set in the 40k universe. Prequel to an in-progress story, Crucibulum.


_**Eless Rising**_

_**Chapter One – Far from Home**_

It wasn't the blood he would remember, for years after. Nor, in truth, would he remember the agonised screams, the cacophony of battle, or the rivers of blood. Because he did not experience those things. In his last moments, all he saw of Saadiq, his best and most loyal friend, was his once kind, well-humoured chestnut eyes bulge and redden, the blood vessels bursting, in unbearable torment, before rolling over white. Everything else around him faded to grey and silence, and for those moments, all he knew was the despair, terror, and above all, defeat, in Saadiq's eyes. He felt in those moments that he had never truly known Saadiq. Or, perhaps he had, and that made his failure to prevent his death only more shameful. Even when the monstrous claw, which had ripped Saadiq open from crotch to throat, had crushed him into paste with its relentless cruelty, his eyes remained, burned into his vision, haunting him with the agony of his friend's last breaths.

"My Prince!", he heard, somewhere behind him in the fog, the world still in silence, Saadiq's eyes still bulging and rolling over and over in front of him. "Ah shit, Sini!". The world came back into life with a flash as he awoke from the trance to see Tanthal standing over him, shaking him profusely. "My Prince, you need to give the order to pull back, we just can't hold that thing here, we've got no cover!" Tanthal roared over the din of gunfire, pulling him up with a meaty arm. "Right, right, give the order, pull back, pull back!" Sini managed to stammer out, still dazed, still watching Saadiq die, over and over. "All units pull back, out of the yard, get into cover in the perimeter buildings, move!" Tanthal yelled into his vox, while dragging Sini with him towards the edge of the wide courtyard they were occupying. Behind him, he now heard the screaming, the noise, even the wet _slap _of blood hitting the dirt. Beyond that, subtly, he could hear hissing, gigantic footfalls, a deep, unnatural dirge accompanying the screams it created; the thing that killed Saadiq.

They broke into a sprint, as did the troopers accompanying them, as they rounded a corner from the main street leading into the courtyard. They backed against the wall of a hab-block as another group of troopers joined them from the opposite direction. Clarity began returning to Sini's mind as a lifetime of combat training kicked in, suppressing the panic and bewilderment that had gripped him.

"My Prince, orders?" Tanthal asked, breathless. The Khassi towered over the other men in the huddle, all of whom looked at him expectantly. Some had lost their rebreather helmets, and every set of gunmetal armour and maroon fatigues before him was caked in the thick white soot that blanketed the entirety of the factory complex. Sini took only a second to observe their surroundings before judging the most advantageous position. "Right, Tanthal, take a squad and garrison the upper floors of those habs," he pointed at the squat row of structures opposite their current position "don't open fire until I give the order. If you see any more of our boys coming this way, try to signal them to get indoors, but otherwise, stay out of sight. I'll take the rest of you and we'll hole up in here" he gestured to the building they were gathered under, at the intersection of the two streets.

Tanthal nodded, taking of a group of men and jogging across the dirt road, before smashing in a thin wooden door to one of the blocks and leading them inside. Sini turned and similarly kicked down the entrance to the structure he was standing at, before escaping out of the hot sun of the open street into the cool gloom inside.

The screams and explosions became muffled by the thick rockcrete walls, making it sound as though the battle was raging somewhere distant, underneath them. The inside of this hab-block was dark and damp, lit only slightly by slits of light breaking through the gaps in the window shutters. Particles of dust danced in the rays, shifting in clouds as the squad spread out around the room. "What kind of firepower do we have on us?" Sini said out loud to the room, while peering through a shutter at a cloud of soot swirling in the billowing wind outside. A storm was getting closer. So were the screams, and the monstrous footfalls.

He turned his head, as he realised no one had yet answered, to see a room full of troopers looking at one another nervously. From the faces he could see, he didn't know any of them. "Well, which one of you is ranking officer?" he demanded, increasingly impatient the closer the fighting got. "Uh, our squad Sahf was killed, by that thing, my Lord- ah, I mean Prince- I mean, my Prince-Leftenant" one of them stuttered out, a young boy with light bronze skin and straw coloured hair, who avoided eye contact, and bowed his head in deference, as did the others. Sini hated the customary pomp associated with his title and name, frustrated these boys could feel fear of him, given what they had been witness to.

"Lift your heads up and look at me when I'm talking to you, all of you!" he barked unsympathetically. He didn't like reprimanding kids who were obviously raw recruits, but the more immediate danger was approaching fast. "Don't bother with the title bullshit. Call me whatever you want, as long as it's quick, I don't care. I'll ask again. You, kid," he pointed at the one who had answered him "what kind of firepower do we have on us?". The boy wavered under his stare for a second, but managed to respond "w-well sir, we've each got a frag or two left at least. Ghaal's got a couple of melta charges" he nodded to the squad's vox operator, who patted the explosives, which were fixed to his belt "and Zeth's got a volley gun" he pointed to a helmeted trooper on the far side of the room, resting the bulky, wired weapon, attached to a powerpack, on his shoulder. "and the rest of us have our rifles. That's it, sir". The boy seemed to straighten his posture a little at delivering the inventory successfully. "Alright," Sini began "that's a start. You, with the Volley gun, take to the top floor." Zeth saluted and ran out of sight up the staircase in the corner. "Vox operator," he continued "hand me those melta charges and join him. I'll signal you when it's time to open fire". Ghaal detached the explosives and handed them to Sini, before ascending the building as well.

"What's your name?" he asked the boy. "Sivhi, sir." came the answer. "Sivhi, you're acting Sahf of this squad, stick with me. The rest of you, ready any frags you have on you, get in cover under windows, doors, anything you can fire out of. Stay on the ground floor." Sini commanded them, as the battle drew closer. "Attack on my order". "Yes sir!" the men cried in unison, heartened by having some direction, and quickly assumed positions around the building. The newly promoted Sivhi made his way over. "Me and you, Sivhi, have the important jobs." Sini grinned, handing him two explosive charges. "And what's that, sir?" he asked. "We're going to kill a beast".


End file.
